Healthcare providers are legally required to ensure patient privacy. But in many situations and for a variety of reasons private, personal information is overheard by unintentional listeners when medical professionals confer with their patients.
And beyond privacy, it's also critical that patients who require extended stays in medical facilities are as comfortable as possible.
If you're responsible for protecting patient privacy and improving comfort, ask yourself the following questions.
- Can examination room conversations be overheard in hallways, the reception area, the waiting room, or in adjacent exam rooms?
- Are disruptive noises interrupting patient sleep?
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HIPAA, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, mandates how a healthcare provider collects, stores, and uses a patient's personal health information. In order to maintain HIPAA compliance, hospitals are required to implement strict safeguards for maintaining and protecting patient privacy.
Nationally, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) measure for "Quiet at Night" reveals that patients are marginally satisfied with the level of hospital noise near their rooms at night. When surveyed upon discharge, patients express their dissatisfaction with low ratings on questions about "Quiet at Night," "Likelihood to Recommend," and "Hospital Overall."
Cambridge sound masking solutions from Biamp provide an ideal system for your hospital environment. Designed by acoustical experts, our solutions help hospitals safeguard speech privacy as required by HIPAA, improve patient satisfaction, enhance quality of care, and ultimately raise key HCAHPS metrics impacting Medicare funding. Managing distracting noise is an ongoing acoustical challenge within hospitals, with national HCAHPS data revealing deep patient dissatisfaction with nighttime noise levels near their rooms; consequently, hospitals are receiving the lowest HCAHPS scores on this key measure across the board.
Research has shown patients find that sound masking provides a comfortable acoustic environment that promotes sleep and contributes to improved medical outcomes. At their core, our sound masking systems are a series of speakers installed in or above a ceiling that distribute an un-obtrusive background sound (much like that of airflow), serving to lessen the impact of distracting noise and the intelligibility of confidential conversations.
A diverse selection of speaker options, software controls, and integrated paging and music options make Biamp's Cambridge products the most flexible and cost-effective sound masking devices on the market. Installed in hundreds of hospitals across the country, Cambridge sound masking solutions are the logical choice for hospitals committed to providing patients with acoustic environments that enhance the effectiveness of care and deliver optimal patient satisfaction.
